Voting in the Bogura-6 by-election and Sherpur-3 general election began today at 7:30am and will continue until 4:30pm.
Despite the polls, no referendum is being held in these constituencies as the ‘Yes’ vote had already won by a large margin in the national election.
Earlier, Election Commission (EC) Senior Secretary Akhtar Hossain said all preparations have been completed and there is no security threat.
In Bogura-6, BNP candidate Md. Rezaul Karim Badsha, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Md. Abidur Rahman and Bangladesh Development Party candidate Md. Al-Amin Talukder are contesting.
The constituency has 150 polling stations, 835 booths and a total of 450,309 voters.
In Sherpur-3, BNP’s Md. Mahmudul Haque Rubel, Jamaat’s Md. Masudur Rahman Masud and BASAD candidate Md. Mizanur Rahman are in the race.
Sherpur-3 has 128 polling stations, 751 booths and 409,806 voters.
According to EC sources, strong security measures have been taken, with 36 executive and judicial magistrates deployed. There are also 18 EC observers and around 400 observers from local organisations.
About 5,000 officials—including returning officers, assistant returning officers and polling staff—are working to conduct the elections smoothly.
For voter convenience, the EC has introduced two new methods to check voter number and polling station details: the Smart Election Management BD App and hotline number 105.
The Bogura-6 seat became vacant after Tarique Rahman, elected from Dhaka-17 in the February 12 national election, gave up the constituency.
Meanwhile, the Sherpur-3 election was earlier postponed following the death of Jamaat candidate Nuruzzaman Badal. The EC later announced a fresh schedule for both polls.